The ECOSTRESS science and applications team: Synergies across land, air, and sea

NASA’s ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS), launched in June 2018, was selected with a primary science focus on terrestrial ecosystem water use and stress. ECOSTRESS provides the highest repeat frequency (1-5 days) high spatial resolution (70 m) thermal infrared data from space, with unique capabilities of diurnal sampling. These data provide myriad opportunities of science and applications beyond the primary science focus. As such, a diverse Science and Applications Team was selected by NASA in 2019, encompassing activities ranging across: fire ecology, carbon cycle links (including fluorescence and carbonyl sulfide), coastal biodiversity, urban heat, mosquito forecasts, geothermal anomaly detection, and the management of water, agriculture, and aquaculture, in addition to expansion of activities related to terrestrial ecosystem water use and stress. These projects form a core team that connect to ever growing ECOSTRESS-enabled activities throughout the larger science and applications communities of practice. While seemingly disparate in discipline, these activities are unified by an interconnectedness of measurement, analysis, and question. Here, we describe the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary nature of ECOSTRESS, and how these projects combine to form an integrated understanding of the Earth System and its relationship to human society.